Maxim Park: Why Scotland’s largest business park is eyeing a brighter future

Providing some 756,000 square feet of accommodation, the site has evolved significantly over the last few years, with occupancy having doubled to 65 per cent.

Taken over by Shelborn Asset Management in 2018, Maxim Park was initially considered a challenge but thanks to significant investment and long-term vision, is now performing counter-cyclically to the sector.

Occupier demand for out-of-town offices has weakened in recent years, but with its central location and easy road, rail and air links, Maxim Park is proving a notable exception.

Andy Cunningham of commercial property agency MC2, letting agent for the park, provides an update on recent developments and what the future holds for the vast site.

Please give us an overview of Maxim Park, its history and some of its key occupiers:

Maxim Park, Scotland’s biggest business park, sits adjacent to the M8 motorway, roughly midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, within the Eurocentral campus.

Initially developed in the mid-2000s and completed in 2010, Maxim Park comprises ten purpose-built contemporary office buildings, surrounded by landscaped grounds, walkways and amenity spaces (including a putting green and allotments), creating a campus-style working environment.

In 2018, it was acquired by property investor Shelborn Asset Management, which has injected significant funds into re-invigorating the park, hugely increasing the number of tenants. The rejuvenation of the park has included the addition of multiple retail and food outlets, health and wellbeing facilities, a buoyant events programme and ongoing tailored support for tenants.

Since Shelborn’s purchase of Maxim, the park has undergone a complete transformation with multiple leasing deals to new occupiers; significant building upgrades, improved transport links and a push to cultivate a vibrant business community, where organisations who would have once only considered city centres, have now headquartered their firms.

Maxim’s location has always been one of its key selling points; with excellent motorway access between Glasgow and Edinburgh; it is also served by several bus routes, with well over a hundred local services daily linking to rail stations and nearby towns.

Now home to a diverse range of organisations - from financial services and infrastructure to energy and tech - high-profile occupiers include HSBC UK/first direct; Aviva; Balfour Beatty; Amey, Barratt Developments (West Scotland team), VMO2, T Clarke, Wills Bros and Policy Expert.

How has the park adapted to the shift to home and hybrid working?

Against all odds, Maxim Park actually performed very well both during and after Covid, with some of our best ever letting figures on record. The businesses on site really embraced the park lifestyle and with Scotland lagging behind the rest of the UK for returning to work, an out-of-town commute suited a lot of people for a number of reasons.

Equally, many of Maxim’s on-site businesses have further adapted in the last 12 months with renewed expectations of staff being on site working - we have seen this particularly with our larger tenants. The Park is now busy, well-populated, and many of the retail outlets and on-site cafes are really benefiting from a larger population of tenants spending their days at the park.

What have been the greatest challenges the park has faced since its opening?

Initially there was a perception from within the property industry that the park was too remote from both Glasgow and Edinburgh to be a success, but its location has actually turned out to be one of its key strengths – that it is easily accessible to and from each city.

The timing of the initial build programme was also challenging, with, perhaps, too much built too soon. Perversely, the timing has now actually helped Maxim as the buildings are completed, visible and ready for occupation, unlike speculative schemes that are still years away. This, plus the huge investment into the park by Shelborn, has helped immensely when landing household name occupiers such as Aviva, HSBC and VM02.

Give us a two-minute sales pitch: why should you locate your business at Maxim?

Community is at the heart of Maxim Park. With events, charity initiatives and real “on the ground support” from the on-site Maxim team, businesses that move here quickly become part of a vibrant “village”, which is easy to reach and has a very distinct identity.

The park’s landscaping and outdoor space is second to none, and incorporates greenery, allotments, golfing and wellbeing spaces – and our on-site gym is run by world champion boxer Ricky Burns.

From small businesses to global names, we have a diverse range of organisations on-site, which leads to unparalleled opportunities for networking and collaboration. Our on-site team knows each tenant personally and the support they offer is in-person and collaborative. We’re very different from other parks which are simply locations – we’re a village in our own right.

What role has technology played in the evolution of the park?

The business space at Maxim Park is handed over to tenants in a “shell and core” capacity, meaning that we can continuously add evolving modern technology into each new fit-out, and support tenants as they do the same.

What developments are planned for the coming year?

We have just gone live on new EV charging solutions, which our tenants are delighted about.

This year will see a focus on Maxim Park’s landscaped areas as we want to further evolve them to be best-in-class as our businesses love the opportunity to spend time outside, running, golfing, and doing outdoor classes or working at the allotments, where our vegetable-growing is a real success.